1:30 supreme

tullyhill a big, strong, ground mashing galloper. willie mullins obviously exceptional at this whole training thing and choice of paul townend (is he the choice? mark walsh always going to ride the jp entry) but form is full of holes and won last two starts going a crawl with no competition for the lead, allowed to stop and start as he pleased. does not lack pace and should have required stamina but was tying up over 3m in a point and blew up over 2m6f on reappearance so some slight unanswered questions given the way the last two races were run for 1m4f. not too much natural pace in this race either but never going to be allowed to dictate a slow pace in a race of this nature - tellherthename most likely to take him on for the lead. ground a positive, race not that deep but price is tight enough based on unknowns. probably beats the piss out of them.

tough to have real strong form coming in to a race of this nature so no surprise that mystical power has not beaten too much either. some concern about ability to jump a hurdle after two sketchy outings but more clumsy then actually bad although that can get you in some trouble around cheltenham, hood on first time will help him concentrate, not ideal situation to be reaching for the headgear though. keen through two easy wins and should have a better pace to aim at but the move to quicken off a slow pace between horses as they turned for home at punchestown was very impressive so think there is a lot of ability there. some books going four places a 5th (standard is three, all sorts of money back offers floating too) including betfred who are still top price this lad at 4s, seems decent enough ew price and doesn't hurt that exchange is already shorter on the win part. there are some shit heaps running in behind here.

pretty obvious that slade steel is here just to avoid ballyburn and was flattered to finish as close to that one last time based on way the race was run with nothing in behind making up any ground, stamina coming in to play to hold off everything behind. nothing as good as ballyburn here of course but would need a real pace to be seen at best here and doubt that will be the case. proximity of a 17 race maiden in previous win over 2m says a lot about that form and slade's ability at this trip, ran on well to win 3m ptp so be surprised if he had required speed to win this. might pick a few off late. might surprise and push the pace knowing he needs a test but likely still to find at least one too good over this trip. would add at least two points to the 6.6 on the exchange win only. 

ballyburn improved a two stone from seasonal reappearance so don't care that firefox beat it one bit when already race fit. started life over 2m4f then was reverted to nh flats and ran in four including one to start the season? clearly this horse has taken a long time to find his feet so might not be quite as exposed as one may think, could still be improving but very disappointing effort in the closing stages over 2m4f last start when suppose to be a bit more of a stayer. probably in the best position turning for home and found nothing having drifted from 2.5 to bigger than 3 bsp. some ability but he's not a 6's poke to win a grade one of this nature over this trip.  

decent enough engine on jeriko du reponet and liked the form of the last win with lump sum posting a decent number in a g2 next start and nature of the two hurdles wins make it pretty tough to know how high the ceiling is. probably be better off a decent pace and versatile as far as ground goes but market wasn't confident the last day although duly dotted up but questions about how good they think he is and fuck me, nicky henderson could not be having a worse time of it and price on this has not moved all week so think we might see a drift on this tomorrow. many questions, probably just not as good as the irish on what he has shown but think he has more scope for improvement over this trip than a couple ahead of him in the market. no real interest in a henderson horse until a few have run though because he's only ran one horse in 10 days and it ran like a sack of shit.   

mistergif maybe good? not a clue. beat a horse that has been running for three years and never got close to seeing a winners enclosure with third another furlong behind. playing a guessing game. if it wins fair enough but i have zero clue how good he is or how good he could be. hurdles form in france is dogshit.